Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Syria: Assad- ' We Are Now In A State Of War' - U.N. - Mission Impossible.

Syrian President says his country in a state of war. The UN peacekeeping chief says the UN observer mission in the country will not resume, as it is too dangerous for the monitors to restart their operations at this point.

More clashes broke out in Syria on Wednesday.

The state media reported gunmen raided the headquarters of a pro-government Syrian TV station early in the day, demolishing the building and killing three employees. Officials denounced what they called a rebel "massacre against the freedom of the press."

More violence was reported on the outskirts of Damascus Tuesday morning, between Syria’s elite Republican Guard forces – a 10,000-man bodyguard unit of the Syrian Army – and rebels. At least six people are reported killed.

Syria’s President Bashar Assad himself acknowledged that his country is now in a state of war. He was speaking on Tuesday at the first cabinet meeting of the newly sworn-in government. President Assad ordered the cabinet to direct all their efforts to beating the armed opposition.

"We live in a real state of war from all angles," he said. "When we are in a war, all policies and all sides and all sectors need to be directed at winning this war."

UN forces in Syria repeatedly came under fire before the organization suspended its 300-member mission on June 16. Back then, the mission's head, Major-General Robert Mood, told the UN Security Council that the observers had suffered direct fire at least 10 times and had been in several indirect fire incidents. Also, nine UN vehicles had been damaged or had come under fire, AP reports.

Nevertheless, the mission could yet potentially resume its activity. A diplomat, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, said that Herve Ladsous, the UN peacekeeping chief, had told a closed council meeting that the mission could restart at some point, but that for the time being it is too dangerous.....read more